Our website is currently under reconstruction
Please excuse missing pieces and parts!

Even before the project began, it was beset with hostility and bias by groups seeking self-profit and self-promotion over the preservation of Madame John's Legacy.

Troubled by a long history of ill conceived alterations and poorly executed renovations by previous projects, Madame John's was near collapse when our project began.

The attic trusses had slid out of position on the back side by nearly a foot, with the joists nearly pulled out of the ridge beam. It had to be winched back into place in an incredible feat of carpentry!

The coal chimney on the lakeside alley side was in a long process of collapse, having been been built poorly sometime after the 1860's. It was pulling the wall off the building and bowing dangerously and had to come down!

Due to the extensive deterioration, advanced age, and poor prior rehabilitation attempts, restoring elements of Madame John's Legacy to earlier construction periods than the post-civil war tenement modifications became a necessity.

Leaks, leaks, everywhere.

Digging into Madame John's Legacy has been a delightful exploration of history, finding Voodoo artifacts in the wall, and even just seeing the old nails and carpentry connections!

With a limited budget and limited scope, there's so much we discovered that still needs to be addressed!